Automobile clutch



`March 24,1925. 1,531,158

F. 'THORINGTON 111110110811111 CLUTCH Filed Dec. 10, 1923 2 sheets-sheet1 Stumm March 24, 1925` 1,531,158

F. THoRlNG-roN AUTOMOBILE CLUTCH Filed 10, 19,25 2 sheets-sheet 2y gmvan l'oz i www( W @Honnw' change Patented Mar, 24, 1942-5.

UNITED STATES i I'LRTCHEB THOBINGTON, 0I Bmm, ALABAIA.

autonom Animation. mi gember io, icas. senin ne. sv,'oo.

To'aZl whomt may concern:

Be it known that I, FLETCHER THoRrNG- TON, a citizen of the UnitedStates, residing at Brming'ham,`in the county of Jefferson and State IofAlabama, have invented cer-A tain new and useful Improvements inAutomobile Clutches; and I 'do hereby declare the following to be afull, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enableothers skilled in the art to which it. appertains to make and use thesame.

The present invention relates to power transmission devices, andmore-.particularly to a novel arrangement of clutches and change speeddevices in the drive line for use particularly upon motor vehicles.

An object of the. present invention is to provide a clutch device ateach end .of a change s transmission mechanism for entirely reeing boththe driveand driven shafts thereof, for facilitating the shifting ofgears irrespective of the movements of the engine or vehicle, and toenable the 'op'- erator to shift the engine' or motor .from a hi herto alower speed relativel to the drive shaft, and vice versa, so that emotor may be used as a brake -for checking the speed of the vehicle whendescendinga hill.

Another object ofthe invention is to ro vide a transmission mechanisminclu ing front and rear clutches, and an intermediate i eedtransmission mechanism with devices or positively interlocking thesections of the rear clutch after the parts thereof havebecomerelatively stationary to preventtlie slipping of the parts of therear' clutch incident to the abnormal strains im.-y posed upon it at therear end of the change speed mechanism. f

Among the various further objects of the invention may be mentioned thefollowing:

(a) The mechanism may be shifted to low gear before the vehicle hasstopped rolling backward or ma be shifted to reverse gear beforethevehic e has stopped rolling forward, so that the motor may be used for.a brake to stop and change the direction. of the vehicle insteadof theuse of one clutch and the foot brake to stop the vehicle, a disadvantageof the present method where the vehicle has tobe stopped before thegears may be changed to low or reverse.v

(b) The present mechanism .inay be,` shifted from the third or highspeed to first' or low speed when on a hard ull, such a8 with a loadedtruck on a steep ill, without injury the transmission gears or .the iclutches.

(c) The present devise may be 'shifted t0 the low as a bra ein case ofaccident, or necessity where a'vehiclestarts to roll vbackward whileattempting to shift gears and the regular brakes fail to hold thevehiclefrom rolling backward, the saine advantage being de rived when thebrakes fail' to holdthe lvehicle from rolling forwardly.

(d) AThe present device permits the ve hicle to be rocked back and forthfrom low 'speed to reverse when stuck in mud without.

undue strain or injuryupon the change speed transmission gears and theclutches.

A still further object ofthis invention is torovi'de a drive lineclutching mechanism em V vdying all of the above characteristics, andwhich at the same time is operable by a control from a single clutchedal which may be positioned and operatedp in the same place and manneras are the clutch pedals on the motor vehicles of the present day saiththe foregoing and other objects in View, the invention will be morefully described hereinafter, and will be more particularlypointed'out-in the claims appended hereto.'

ar, so that the motor may be used -In .the drawings, wherein -likesymbols refer to like or corresponding parts throughout the severalviews. Figure 1 `is aI side elevation partly in section of a 'clutchingmechanism constructed according to the present4 invention, and asinstalled upon a motor vehicle between the motor and the drive shaft,parts of the vehicle being shown in section. 1

Figure 2 is a detail enlarged sectional view of the rear clutch with itsassociated parts .shown in clutched and interlocked relation. Fi re 3 1sa like view, partly in elevation, showing the clutch released.

Figure 4 is atransversesection through the clutch taken substantially onthev line 4 4 of Figure 2. A

Figure 5 is a fragmentary enlarged view i in section of a portion of theopen end of teeth.

Figure 6 is' a front elevation of the clutch lockin disc, takensubstantially on the line 66 o Figure 3, and

Figure 7 is a detail transverse sectional` view taken through thereleasing and lock the frame of a motor vehic y bustion engine type, andwhich has a com- 28 has moved forwardly through a prede-` 15, and whichhas a fork bined clutch and transmission casing 15 formed as a unit withthe engine 14,andV in which the forward clutch 16 is mounted and alsothe usual change speed transmission mechanism 17, the latter beingarranged in rear of the clutch 16. The transmission ortion of the casing15 has at one side a iiracket 18 to which is pvotally, connected thelower end of a clutch pedal 19 which extends upwardly through the slot13 in the toe board 12, and which is curved rearwardly in the usualmanner for engagement with the foot. A spring 20 is arranged between thebracket 18 and the pedal 19 for normally urging the latter into itsrearmost position of rest.

The pedal 19 carries a yoke 21 tc the forward end of which is connectedan adjustable rod 22 pivotally secured at its forward end to the upperextremity of a forward clutch arm 23 pivoted at 24 in the housing 25upon its lower end straddling the sleeve of the clutch 16, and arran edto engage the clutch collar 26 for shi ting the clutch when the fork 25is swung rearwardly. It will be noted that there 1s a considerable spacebetween the fork 25 and the collar 26 for a purpose which willhereinafter appear, and so that the arm 23 may swing through apredetermined distance before the clutch 1G is released.

The yoke 21 carries a rearwardly extending rod 27 which is adjustableand which is pivotally connected at its rear end to the upper end of arear clutch arm 28, which is plvoted at its lower end to a bracket 29which is secured upon the lower rear portion of the casin 15. A spring30 is arranged between theracket arm 29 and the arm 2S for normallyurging the latter into a rearmost position as shown in Figure l. Theintermediate ortion of t-he rear arm 28 is given ring s ape, so as toenclose the rear clutch sleeve 31, and carries intermediate said ringshaped portion a pair of links 32 which are arranged at opposite sidesof the sleeve 31, and which project forwardly a. short distance from thearm 28 to engage the outturned collar 33 to release the rear clutch,designated generally at 34 after the lever termined distance.

The rear clutch 34, like the front clutch be of any approved type whichis normal y closed and 1n the present instance for the purpose ofillustration only, is shown as bein of a multiple disc type. The body 34or dgrum of the clutch is openat its forward end, and has internal teeth35 extendin substantially rin arallelism with the axis of the clutch,ang which are bevelled or tapered at their forward ends 36 to facilitatethe entrance of arlocking device hercinafter described. The rear -end ofthe drum 34 carries a plate 37 adapted to be keyed to a driven shaft 38which leads to the rear drive wheels of the vehicle. Within the drum 34is placed a second reduced drum 39 provided wlth a flange 40 at itsforward end which is out-turned, and which has a hub portion 41 at itsinner end, the'hub portion extending forwardly within the inner drum 39and arranged toI be slidably keyed upon the drive shaft 42 which leads,from the transmission mechanism 17. The outer drum 34 has keyed to it aplurality of discs 43 which alternate with the plurality of intermediatediscs 44 which are keyed upon the inner drum 39. The discs 43 and 44 areadapted to be crowded together for frictlonally engaging the inner andcuter drums 4of the clutch between the rear clutch .plate 37 and theout-turned flange 40 of the inner drum. This bindin together of thediscs 43 and 44 is effecte by a forward clutch plate 45 which is fittedin the forward end of the outer drum 34, and which carries the clutchsleeve 31 rotatable upon the shaft 42, and which is urged normally in arearward direction by a spring 46 or the like. Ot course any suitablemeans may be provided for normally urging the discs 43 and 44 together.The clutch sleeve 31 is made relatively long and is provided with akey-way 47 at one side for reception of a key 48 of the hub 49 of alocking disc or plate 50, which is slidably disposed upon thel sleeve3l, and which has peripheral teeth 51 adapted to interlock with thcteeth 35 of the outer drum 34. The outer drum 331- may thus bepositively locked through the disc 50 aud sleeve 3l with tlic plate 45.and thc inner drum 39.

'llle hul 49 oi' the locking disc 50 has a peripheral groove. 52 intowhich the .in- Iurned ends of the links 32 engage. When the arm 28 isswung forwardly it thus cal.'4 riesthe hub 49 and dise 50 therewith torelease the dise 50 from the outer drum 34.

In operation, when the clutch pedal 19 is first moving forwardly, thefront clutch arm 23 is moving toward the collar 26 and during this idlemovement of the arm 23 the rear clutch arm 28 draws the locking disc 50out of the drum 34 and releases the rear clutch. The further forwardmovement of therear clutch arm 28 brings the links 32 against the rearcollar 33 and withlll) lill) draws the plate 45 and the inner drum 39and thus releases the clutch discs 43 and 44. Immediately pressure isreleased from the clutch discs 43 and 44, the arm 23 engages the forwardcollar 2 6, and the final movement of the clutch pedal 19 thus releasesthe forward .clutch 16. More specifically, the rear clutch operates asfollows z-The flange 40, drum r39, huh' 41, disc 45, and its hub 31 arepractically a unit which slides longitudinally on shaft 42 toward andfrom the back plate 37. Figure 2 shows the spring 46 urging the unithackwardly toward the plate 37 and crowding the clutch discs 43 and 44together. y because the lever 28 is in its backward position as shown inFigure 1. The unit moves backwardly in advance of thelever 28, andconsequently the locking discl 50, is inally moved by the lever 28 intolocking engagement with the drum 34.. This action locks the drum 34 andbaclf plate 37,\keyed on shaft 38, to said unit and, as thela-tter iskeyed t0 shaft 42 the two shafts 42 and 38 are locked together to takethe strain from the clutch discs 43 and 44. Figure 3 shows the lockingdisc 50 disengaged from the drum 34 and the clutch dises released orseparated. The change speed mechanism 17 may now be adjusted as both thedrive and driven shafts thereof are freel from the mechanism and arepermitted to come to rest. The change speed mechanism may thus beadjusted into high or low gears, or in reverse gear as is requiredwithout noise and without danger of injuring the gear mechanism, becauseno strain is imposed on either shaft of the gear mechanism.

It is obvious that various changespand modifications may be made Ain thedetails of construction and design of the above specificallyv describedembodiment of'this invention without departing from the spirit thereof,such changes and modifications being restricted only by the scope of the-following claims lVhat is claimed is y 1. In a power transmissiondevice, a pair et' clutches, a change speed transmission mechanisminterposed between the clutches, a control pedal pivotally mountedintermeydiate the clutches, a rod pivotally mounted intermediate itsends on said pedal, operat- This is possible ing levers pivotallymounted adjacent to the clutches and connected to the' rod, whereby saidlevers may be operated simultaneously by movement of the control pedal,one of said levers terminating in spaced apart relation with respect toits clutch, a clutch locking device associated with the other clutch andslidable relative thereto, and means connecting the locking devicedirectly `to said other lever, whereby the locking device is releasedfrom its clutch prior to the engagement between the first mentionedlever with its clutch when the control pedal is operated.

2. In a power transmission device, a pair of clutches, a speed changetransmission mechanism interposed between the clutches, a clutch pedalmounted intermediate the clutches, operating levers associated with theclutches and connected tothe clutch pedal, for simultaneous operationthereby, said clutches being provided with slidable sleeves connected tothe movable elements of the clutches, and being positioned in spacedapart relationA with respect to their respective operating fvers, asleeve slidable upon one of said clutch sleeves','and va clutch lockingdevice carried by the slidable sleeve, said sleeve and locking devicebeing connected directly to one of the operating levers whereby thelocking device in released prior to any movement of the clutches whenthe clutch pedal is operated.

3. In a power transmission device, a pair of clutches, a change speedtransmission mechanism interposed between the clutches, a common controlpedal forl the clutches, means including pivoted operating leversconnecting the clutches and pedal, a locking device associated with oneof the clutches, a link carried by one of the leversand having one endconnected to the locking dcvice and its opposite end terminating inrspaced relation with respect to the movable member of the clutch, saidother operating lever terminating :in spaced. relation with respect tothe movable member of the other `clutch, whereby, upon movement of thecontrol pedal, the locking device, its associated clutch and the otherclutch are operated in sequence.- t,

FLETCHER THORINGTON.

